Who Builds the Data Centers: What the Employment Record Can and Cannot Show in Virginia, Georgia, and Tennessee
Plain-English summary
This report asks what available records can show about who builds and staffs data centers in Virginia, Georgia and Tennessee. The construction trades are where the record runs out: none of the thirteen sources it reads counts the construction tradespeople on a data center site in any of the three states.
Of 410 ads captured from a data center job board on October 19, 2026, none the board placed in the three states was for an electrician, pipefitter, ironworker, laborer or apprentice on a construction site.
Operations jobs are better documented. Virginia's figures run from more than 800 to 17,900 because they count different things. Among the sources read, the only delivered jobs anyone verified were under Virginia's discretionary state grants.
Among the captured ads, most hourly ones in Virginia and Georgia that state an experience requirement ask for two years or less.
Summary of version 1.0, October 2026. The full report carries the record behind each point.
Full abstract
As of October 2026, jobs sit near the center of the public case for data centers in Virginia, Georgia, and Tennessee. Each state ties its sales tax exemption to a job count, some Virginia counties write job commitments into performance agreements, and an industry-commissioned report puts Virginia's data center operations employment at 17,900 and its construction employment at 36,700. This volume asks what the available records can actually show about who builds these facilities and who staffs them, and it reads thirteen sources side by side to answer.
The construction trades are where the record runs out. None of the thirteen sources counts construction craft workers on a data center site in any of the three states. The union filings count members of electrical locals at the local's headquarters, and the federal employment census counts electrical-contractor jobs at the contractor's office; the union-density survey's published tables do not reach a single trade at the metropolitan level, and the construction figures in the sources read are either modeled or reported by the industry. A capture of 410 ads from a data center job board on October 19, 2026 found no ad, among those the board placed in the three states, for an electrician, pipefitter, ironworker, laborer, or apprentice on a construction site.
Operations jobs are better documented, and Virginia's figures for them run from more than 800 to 17,900, because they count different things: jobs added in a single year, a legislative staff estimate of the whole operating workforce, and an industry-commissioned estimate whose derivation the report does not state. The 1,610 net new jobs that exemption claimants reported for fiscal 2025 were, in the state's own words, "self-reported by data center operators and ... not independently validated." Among the sources read, the only delivered jobs anyone verified were under discretionary state grants.
The job ads add what the other sources lack, which is what employers require. Most hourly ads in Virginia and Georgia that state an experience figure ask for two years or less. The ads the job board labels "construction" are overwhelmingly for project managers, superintendents, estimators, and engineers; in Virginia and Georgia most of those that state a figure ask for five years or more, and in Tennessee 4 to 9 of 14 do. The ad-level captures are deposited with this volume.
Deposited with the volume: ad-level captures of 410 data center job ads in Virginia (233), Georgia (126), and Tennessee (51) as listed on Data Center JobHub on October 19, 2026, with a README describing the columns and method.